Knight with a sword or Arlecchino
| Reference: | S42091 |
| Author | Mariano FORTUNY |
| Year: | 1870 ca. |
| Measures: | 121 x 200 mm |
€550.00
| Reference: | S42091 |
| Author | Mariano FORTUNY |
| Year: | 1870 ca. |
| Measures: | 121 x 200 mm |
€550.00
Description
Etching, circa 1870, unsigned.
Magnificent proof, impressed in sanguine on contemporary laid paper, with margins, in perfect condition.
Spanish painter and etcher, Mariano Fortuny (Spanish, 1838 – 1874), one of the leading artists of his day, working in both Paris and Rome, the artist achieved international renown in the second half of the 19th century. The artist often explored the theme of Orientalism (depiction of Middle Eastern, South Asian, and East Asian cultures) and the romantic exotic, drawn from trips to North Africa, including time in Tangier during 1859-60 during the Spanish-Moroccan War. Fortuny was an innovator in painting, watercolor, and etching. His distinctive and brilliant use of etching as an independent genre, with a unique freedom of line and expression, made him one of the most important and influential graphic artists of his time. Arrived in Rome in 1858 with a pensioner from the Diputació de Barcelona, Mariano Fortuny y Marsal specialized in the Eternal City, before to bond with the merchant Adolphe Goupil and establish himself on the international market with eighteenth-century costume paintings and genre scenes, made with surprising technique and immediately imitated by a host of Italian and Spanish painters, who gave birth to the phenomenon of fortunism. A versatile artist, he demonstrated the same dexterity and skill in etching, practiced occasionally, as in painting. His deep knowledge of the great masters of the past led him to confront himself in this field with Rembrandt and, above all, with Goya, explicitly mentioned in some works. The diffusion of Fortuny's engravings is largely due to Goupil, who in 1869 was selling a portfolio of eight etchings. In 1878, four years after the artist's death, the number of engravings published by the merchant, in various formats, techniques and types of paper, rose to twenty-eight. Fortuny was an admirer of the paintings of Boldini and was close to a number of the Macchiaioli, including Fattori and Silvestro Lega.
Work not published in the repertories consulted. A recurring model of the early Roman years is Arlecchino, who may also have inspired this etching.
Bibliografia
Cfr. Beraldi 1887; R.Vives, 'Fortuny, grabador. Estudi crìtic i catàleg raonat', Reus, 1991; 'Fortuny (1838-1874)', Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya, Barcelona 2003.
Mariano FORTUNY (Reus 1838 - Roma 1874)
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Painter, draughtsman and etcher. Born in Reus, Catalonia (Spain), died Rome. Son-in-law of Federico de Madrazo and father of Mariano Fortuny, the dress designer.
Son of a carpenter who specialised in carvings and altars, he helped his grandfather on his travelling museum of wax figurines. At the age of 9 he joined the public drawing school and entered the studio of the local painter Domenec Soberano. In 1853 Fortuny enrolled in the Escuela de Bellas Artes in Barcelona, where Claudi Lorenzale offered him a place in his studio. Two years later he saw some lithographs by Gavarni, who was to be the most significant early influence on his work. Fortuny's first prints were lithographs illustrating a translation of a novel by Alexandre Dumas. In 1857 the Barcelona Provincial Council awarded Fortuny a two year pension for study in Rome, where, on his arrival in 1858, he briefly shared a studio with Attilio Simonetti, who became one of his closest friends. He also attended the Gigi Academy and often visited the French Academy in the Villa Medici. Fortuny returned to Spain in 1860 to fulfil a commission from the Provincial Council to make studies from life of the Spanish-Moroccan war. In February he met the Parisian journalist and art critic, Charles Yriarte, in Morocco. Together they witnessed some of the fighting. On his return to Spain he met the painter Federico de Madrazo, with whom he visited the Prado for the first time. After an exhibition in Barcelona of some of the drawings that Fortuny had made in Morocco, the Council asked him to go to Versailles to study Horace Vernet's 1843 The capture of Abd-el-Kadar's Smalah. He then returned to his studio in the Via Ripetta in Rome.
Fortuny made his first etching in 1861 and it seems that almost all his 73 etchings were made in Rome. The following year the Provincial Council asked him to make a second visit to Morocco for research towards completing his major painting 'The Battle of Tetuan'. Fortuny settled in Tangiers and Tetuan before briefly returning to Barcelona.
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Mariano FORTUNY (Reus 1838 - Roma 1874)
|
Painter, draughtsman and etcher. Born in Reus, Catalonia (Spain), died Rome. Son-in-law of Federico de Madrazo and father of Mariano Fortuny, the dress designer.
Son of a carpenter who specialised in carvings and altars, he helped his grandfather on his travelling museum of wax figurines. At the age of 9 he joined the public drawing school and entered the studio of the local painter Domenec Soberano. In 1853 Fortuny enrolled in the Escuela de Bellas Artes in Barcelona, where Claudi Lorenzale offered him a place in his studio. Two years later he saw some lithographs by Gavarni, who was to be the most significant early influence on his work. Fortuny's first prints were lithographs illustrating a translation of a novel by Alexandre Dumas. In 1857 the Barcelona Provincial Council awarded Fortuny a two year pension for study in Rome, where, on his arrival in 1858, he briefly shared a studio with Attilio Simonetti, who became one of his closest friends. He also attended the Gigi Academy and often visited the French Academy in the Villa Medici. Fortuny returned to Spain in 1860 to fulfil a commission from the Provincial Council to make studies from life of the Spanish-Moroccan war. In February he met the Parisian journalist and art critic, Charles Yriarte, in Morocco. Together they witnessed some of the fighting. On his return to Spain he met the painter Federico de Madrazo, with whom he visited the Prado for the first time. After an exhibition in Barcelona of some of the drawings that Fortuny had made in Morocco, the Council asked him to go to Versailles to study Horace Vernet's 1843 The capture of Abd-el-Kadar's Smalah. He then returned to his studio in the Via Ripetta in Rome.
Fortuny made his first etching in 1861 and it seems that almost all his 73 etchings were made in Rome. The following year the Provincial Council asked him to make a second visit to Morocco for research towards completing his major painting 'The Battle of Tetuan'. Fortuny settled in Tangiers and Tetuan before briefly returning to Barcelona.
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